Aquarium gang valve

ABSTRACT

An aquarium gang valve including a manifold formed with an inlet chamber and a plurality of through stem-receiving bores leading therefrom. The bores are formed along their inner portions with reduced-in-diameter valve seats and on their outer extremities with internally threaded sections. The manifold includes outlet ports which are in communication with the respective bores. A plurality of elongated valve stems are inserted in the respective bores and are formed on their axially outer lengths with externally threaded portions for engagement with the internally threaded bore portions. The valve stems include resilient poppets on their inner ends for engagement with the respective seats whereby the stems may be screwed inwardly in the respective bores to engage the respective poppets with the respective seats to gradually deform the poppets and progressively decrease the airflow past the respective seats to thereby provide for relatively fine metering of air to the outlet ports. Frictional grommets may be disposed concentric with the axially outer ends of the stems for providing resistance to turning of the stems to maintain such stems at their desired settings.

United States Patent Duke et al.-

[54] AQUARIUM GANG VALVE [72] Inventors: Bernard Duke, Deal, N..l.',David Z. Leven- [21] Appl. No.2 875,040

[52] U.S. C1 ..137/608, 251/333 [51] Int. Cl ..Fl7d 1/00 [58] Field ofSearch ..251/333;137/608,27

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,265,953 5/1918 Pittman..137/608 X 1,664,909 4/1928 Thomson 137/608 2,447,510 8/1948Langdon..... 251/333 X 3,090,596 5/1963 Gifford ..251/333 3,092,1416/1963 Stark ..137/608 3,117,587 1/1964 Willinger ...137/608 X 3,298,3961/1967 Gressman et a1 ..137/608 X FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS1,145,450 3/1963 Germany ..251/264 5] Feb. 22, 1972 1,174,467 3/1959France ..251/274 Primary Examiner-Samuel Scott Att0mey-Fulwider, Patton,Rieber, Lee & Utecht [57] ABSTRACT An aquarium gang valve including amanifold formed with an inlet chamber and a plurality of throughstem-receiving bores leading therefrom. The bores are formed along theirinner portions with reduced-'n-diameter valve seats and on their outerextremities with internally threaded sections. The manifold includesoutlet ports which are in communication with the respective bores. Aplurality of elongated valve stems are inserted in the respective boresand are formed on their axially outer lengths with externally threadedportions for engagement with the internally threaded bore portions. Thevalve stems include resilient poppets on their inner ends for engagementwith the respective seats whereby the stems may be screwed inwardly inthe respective bores to engage the respective poppets with therespective seats to gradually deform the poppets and progressivelydecrease the airflow past the respective seats to thereby provide forrelatively fine metering of air to the outlet ports. Frictional grommetsmay be disposed concentric with the axially outer ends of the stems forproviding resistance to turning of the stems to maintain such stems attheir desired settings.

1 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 AQUARIUM GANG VALVE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relatesgenerally to gang valves and more particularly to aquarium gang valves.

2. Description of the Prior Art 1 Prior art aquarium gang valvesgenerally includemanifolds having stem receiving bores therein which areformed with frustoconical valve seats that are engaged by the conicallyshaped ends of metal valve stems inserted in such bores to thereby meterand selectively shut off flow. Gang valves of this type suffer theshort-coming that when the poppets are brought into engagement with therespective seats, stoppage of airflow will be relatively abrupt therebymaking it difficult, if not impossible, to attain any degree of accuracyin metering low rates of air flow' SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aquariumgang valve of present invention is characterized by a manifold formedwith an inlet chamber having a plurality of through stem-receiving boresleading therefrom and formed on their axially inner portions withreduced-indiameter valve seats. The bores are formed on their outerextremities with internally threaded sections and are in communicationwith outlet ports formed by the manifold. A plurality of elongated valvestems are provided for insertion in the bores and are externallythreaded along their outer lengths for engagement with the internallythreaded sections of the bores. The valve stems include resilientpoppets on their axially inner ends for engagement with the respectiveseats whereby the stems may be screwed inwardly in the bores to engagethe respective poppets with the respective seats to gradually deformsuch poppets and progressively meter the airflow rate zpast such seats.

An object of the present invention is to provide an aquarium gang valveof the type described which will'provide'for convenient positive shutoff.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an aquarium gangvalve of the type described which includes grommets around the stems toprevent accidental rotation thereof.

These and other objects and the advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from a consideration of the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an aquariumgang valve embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the aquarium gang valve shown in FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;and

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view, in enlarged scale, taken along theline 5-5 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The aquarium gang valve ofpresent invention includes a plastic manifold, generally designated 11,which is formed with an elongated inlet chamber 15 (FIG. 5) having aplurality of stem-receiving bores 17 leading therefrom. The innerportion of the bores 17 are reduced-in-diameter to form frustoconicalvalve seats 21 and the outer portions of such bores are threaded forengagement by the threaded axially outer portions 23 of respectivestainless steel valve stems, generally designated 25. The axially innerextremities of the stems 25 carry resilient dome shaped poppets 27 whichare slightly smaller in diameter than the bores 17 to provide forairflow therearound when they are unseated. When the respective stems 25are screwed inwardly in the bores 17 the poppets 27 engage therespective seats 21 to throttle airflow past the respective seats.Screwing of the stems 21 further into the bores 17 will deform thepoppets 27 thereby progressively forming a closer fit with therespective seats 21 to thereby gradually decrease airflow past suchseats until such airflow is fully shut ofl".

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the manifold 11 is formed with a pluralityof interior bosses 35 disposed in the inlet chamber 15 and formed withthethrough bores 23. Extending transversely from the intermediateportion of each one of the bores 23 are outlet ports 39 which are formedon their outer ends with countersunk recesses 43 which receive stainlesssteel nipples 45. The nipples 45 are tapered for convenient receipt ofdistribution hoses (not shown) leading to respective air operatedelements included in an aquarium (not shown).

The inner extremities of the respective valve stems 25 are formed withaxially projecting reduced-in-diameter pegs which are received incomplimentally shaped, open ended axial passages 51 formed in therespective poppets 27 for convenient mounting of such poppets. It isnoted that the poppets 27 are only slightly smaller in diameter than thebores 17 whereby when such poppets slip off the pegs 49 duringretraction of the stems they will rest in the respective bores 17 withthe passage 51 maintained in alignment for receipt of the respectivepegs 49 when the respective stems 25 are next screwed in for closing theparticular valve.

The axially outer extremity of the respective stems 25 are formed withknurled heads 55 for convenient grasping to rotate the respective stems.The front wall of the manifold 11 is formed with countersunk cavities 57which are arranged concentrically with the outer ends of thestem-receiving bores 17 for receipt of press fit rubber washers 59 whichare held in position for frictionally resisting turning of therespective stems 25. 7

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, the manifold 11 is formed with a pair ofinlet ports 63 leading from the inlet chamber 15 and extending outwardlyin respective frusto-conical nipples 65 which maybe connected to hoses(not shown) leading to aquarium pumps for air supply.

In operation, the aquarium gang valve of present invention may beutilized for receiving air from a pair of aquarium pumps fordistribution to a plurality of air operated elements disposed in anaquarium (not shown). The inlet nipples 65 are connected with therespective pumps by means of hoses (not shown) and such pumps areoperated to pressurize the inlet chamber 15. Separate distribution hosesare then connected with each of the outlet nipples 45 for distributingair to the respective air operated elements.

The respective stern knobs 55 are then grasped and the stems 25 rotatedto selectively adjust the position of the respective poppets 27 withrespect to the seats 21 for the desired airflow to the particular airoperated element. In this regard, it will be noted that when the stems25 are screwed inwardly in the respective bores 17 the dome shaped endof the respective poppets 27 will engage the respective seats 21 therebythrottling airflow out the respective outlet ports 39. Gradual screwingof the stems 27 further inwardly in the respective bores 17 willgradually deform the respective poppets 27 to progressively fonn acloser fit with the respective seats 21 to progressively reduce the flowrate out the respective outlet ports until airflow is fully stopped.Consequently, rather iine metering is provided at the relativelylow-airflow rates required by many of the conventional air operatedelements used in aquariums.

Once the stem 25 for a particular air operative element is adjusted, therubber grommet 59 concentric with the outer portion thereof will preventthe respective stems 25 from walking axially inwardly or outwardlywithin the respective bores 17 as a result of vibration of the manifoldby vibrationtype air pumps.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent thatapplicants have provided an aquarium gang valve which may convenientlybe used for distribution of air from an aquarium air pump to a pluralityof different air operated elements which require different rates offlow. The resilient poppet provides for fine metering of the airflow atrelatively lowflow rates.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to theforegoing without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What we claim is:-

I. An aquarium gang valve comprising:

a manifold formed with an inlet chamber having an inlet port and aplurality of continuous through, stem-receiving bores leading from saidchamber, and formed on their axially inner portions withreduced-in-diameter valve seats and on their outer extremities withinternally threaded sections and said outer extremities terminating in acoaxial countersunk cavity, said manifold, further, including outletports in communication with the outer portion of the respective bores;

a plurality of elongated valve stems for insertion in said bores andexternally threaded along their axially outer lengths for engagementwith said internally threaded sections and including axially projectingmounting pegs on their inner ends;

a rubber grommet press-fitted into each of said countersunk cavitiesthat frictionally engage said respective stems to resist accidentalrotation thereof; and

a plurality of resilient poppets of smaller cross section size than thecross section of said bores and including axial passages receiving saidrespective mounting pegs and frictionally retaining said poppets wherebysaid stems may be screwed inwardly in saidrespective bores to engagesaid respective poppets with said respective seats to gradually deformsaid poppets and progressively reduce the rate of airflow between saidrespective poppets and seats to thereby provide relatively fine meteringof air to the respective outlet ports and if any of said poppetsaccidentally disengages its mounting peg during retraction of a stem thecross section of such disengaged poppet will be sufficient to maintainthe axial passage of such poppet aligned with the disengaged mountingpeg so that when the retracted stem is screwed back toward the valveclosed position the disengaged stern and poppet will be reengaged.

1. An aquarium gang valve comprising: a manifold formed with an inletchamber having an inlet port and a plurality of continuous through,stem-receiving bores leading from said chamber, and formed on theiraxially inner portions with reduced-in-diameter valve seats and on theirouter extremities with internally threaded sections and said outerextremities terminating in a coaxial countersunk cavity, said manifold,further, including outlet ports in communication with the outer portionof the respective bores; a plurality of elongated valve stems forinsertion in said bores and externally threaded along their axiallyouter lengths for engagement with said internally threaded sections andincluding axially projecting mounting pegs on their inner ends; a rubbergrommet press-fitted into each of said countersunk cavities thatfrictionally engage said respective stems to resist accidental rotationthereof; and a plurality of resilient poppets of smaller cross sectionsize than the cross section of said bores and including axial passagesreceiving said respective mounting pegs and frictionally retaining saidpoppets whereby said stems may be screwed inwardly in said respectivebores to engage said respective poppets with said respective seats togradually deform said poppets and progressively reduce the rate ofairflow between said respective poppets and seats to thereby providerelatively fine metering of air to the respective outlet ports and ifany of said poppets accidentally disengages its mounting peg duringretraction of a stem the cross section of such disengaged poppet will besufficient to maintain the axial passage of such poppet aligned with thedisengaged mounting peg so that when the retracted stem is screwed backtoward the valve closed position the disengaged stem and poppet will bereengaged.